The election of Republican Scott Brown to the US Senate is the first real indicator that sections of a longstanding liberal electorate have lost belief in the Democratic Party's version of "hope" and "change" and instead need concrete solutions to the real problems of joblessness, healthcare and home foreclosures (Feature, Socialist Review, January 2010).
One of the revelations at the Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq war was the statement by Geoff Hoon, the former defence secretary, that versions of Lord Goldsmith's opinion about the legality of waging war without a further UN resolution had been circulated to some members of the cabinet before the Commons vote of 18 March 2003.
Socialists should welcome Barack Obama's initiative to ban banks from investing primary deposits in hedge funds, private equity or the casino of investment banking.
